Celtic managed to see off Dundee with minimal complications despite Brendan Rodgers fielding a rotated side against the Dark Blues on Wednesday evening.
Ringing the changes, the Irishman made six alterations to the Bhoys side that saw off Motherwell, including rare starts for Anthony Ralston, Luis Palma and Hyunjun Yang.
With the scoring level early into the second half, Brendan Rodgers turned to his big-hitters to see three points over the line, with Alistair Johnston and Daizen Maeda among those called upon to provide some extra inspiration.
Eventually, Johnston opened the scoring before Arne Engels struck from the spot to ensure the Bhoys retained their slot at the Scottish Premiership summit.
Ultimately, a comfortable Celtic victory against Dundee sent the home support home happy, and Michael Stewart has pointed out one of their main sources of inspiration on the night.
Michael Stewart on ‘fantastic’ Celtic asset Alistair Johnston
Speaking on Sportscene, Stewart highlighted Johnston’s quality and desire that he possesses in ‘bucketloads’ as a crystallising reason why the Bhoys were able to sweep Dundee aside.
He explained when asked how highly he rates the Canada international: “Very highly, he’s a fantastic player, and everything that we’ve just been talking about in terms of desire and hunger, a genuine winner; Alistair Johnston’s got that in bucketloads.
“He’s very much in the same vein as Devlin, attacking full-backs; he constantly wants to get into those dangerous areas. This is a tremendous finish; it’s not an easy one at all. Driving in there at the near post and getting that on target.
“It’s a big, big accolade for Alistair Johnston when you see him stepping up and taking the captain’s armband when Callum McGregor has been out the side at the weekend. I think that you look at Juranovic and the impact he made at Celtic; he just went out the door and was completely forgotten about.
“Alistair Johnston came in, and straight away, you could see this guy was a winner, and he continues to improve as well.”
Alistair Johnston an unlikely goal source for Celtic
Strangely enough, Johnston isn’t known for his goals at Celtic, but the full-back has now registered four strikes and a trio of assists to cement a brilliant personal start to the campaign.
Firing home in consecutive matches, the 26-year-old seems to have a knack of timing his runs perfectly in the area before going on to apply the finishing touch.
Notably, his left-footed effort on the stretch against Dundee was a hard ask to divert home. Nevertheless, he took his chance in expert fashion to break a stubborn opponent down.
If he can continue getting into dangerous positions, there is no reason for his tally not to increase come the ens of the season.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
